The Night Watch
by Phosphorescent
Summary: Anger coils in his gut as he stares blankly at the all-too-familiar hospital hallway. This is the same place Jackie was brought a few short months (a lifetime) ago. Tag to 10x21: "Berlin," with mild speculation for 10x22: "Revenge."


_Disclaimer: Surprisingly, I still don't own NCIS._

_A/N: What an episode! I guess we're really getting into season finale time. But if having Tony and Ziva's lives hanging in the balance isn't going to be the season finale cliffhanger, what will? If anything, I'm almost more nervous about the upcoming finale now._

* * *

Leon is with Gibbs when the call comes in.

"Gibbs," Gibbs barks into his phone. Whatever he hears on the other end obviously upsets him, because his eyes go from neutral to worried to flinty in under a minute.

"Got it," Gibbs tells the person on the other side of the line. "I'll be there as soon as I can."

He clicks the phone shut with a surprisingly amount of force.

Leon gives him a curious look.

"DiNozzo and Ziva are at Bethesda," Gibbs says grimly. "There was a car accident."

-–- -–- -–- -–- -–-

As the Director of NCIS, Leon can't drop everything to go to the agents' bedsides. He goes as soon as he can, however, and is met by an agitated-looking Abby Scuito in the ER waiting room.

"Director Vance!" she says, all but pouncing on him.

"Any news?" he asks her after he's extricated himself from the viselike grip of her hug.

Twisting her hands, Abby says, "A nurse said that they're in surgery. Gibbs used his – his Gibbs-y powers to get that update twenty minutes ago. Then he said he was going to go take care of something and told me to wait here. I haven't heard from him since. The receptionist has stopped listening to me and Tim isn't answering his phone and–"

"It's going to be OK, Ms. Scuito," he assures her, patting her awkwardly on the back. (Wishing that he could believe the words he's spouting.)

"Of course it's going to be OK!" Abby exclaims. "Tony's _stubborn_ and Ziva's a fighter and they can't just d- die in a car crash! If _anyone_ can make it, they will."

Her tone is fierce, as though daring the universe and her two friends to do otherwise; as though she can make things better through sheer force of will alone.

"Let me give something a try," he says, straightening his back, and approaches the receptionist with his ID in hand.

-–- -–- -–- -–- -–-

Several confrontations later, he finds himself in a hallway of the ER next to Gibbs.

"How are they?" he asks.

Gibbs looks down and away and responds flatly, "Alive. For now. They're both still in surgery."

"You think this wasn't an accident," Leon says, and it isn't a question.

"I know damn well it wasn't," Gibbs says. "The diamonds were gone by the time the paramedics got there."

Leon's lips tighten.

Anger coils in his gut as he stares blankly at the all-too-familiar hallway. This is the same place Jackie was brought a few short months (a lifetime) ago.

It's as though he's in the middle of a recurring nightmare.

(And if it feels like a nightmare to him, how must it feel to Gibbs? After all, the man lost his wife and daughter to an "accidental" car crash.)

"Do we have anyone at the crime scene?" he asks after a long pause.

Gibbs nods shortly, shoulders tense and body stiffly alert.

And they settle into waiting.

-–- -–- -–- -–- -–-

Some time later, Gibbs says, "The paramedics said that they were holding hands when they found them."

Leon feels his lips twist into a slightly bitter smile as he says, "Jackie always thought there was something going on there."

Gibbs shrugs.

"She wasn't the only one," he says at last.

-–- -–- -–- -–- -–-

It's the waiting, Leon reflects, that's the worst; the not-knowing. Unless the knowing is the wrong sort of knowing, that is. (Because waiting for news of Jackie's condition had been hell, but knowing for certain that she was dead and never coming back – well, that was a different sort of hell altogether.)

-–- -–- -–- -–- -–-

Eventually he has to leave. As always, duty calls.

Besides, there are a couple of words he'd like to have with Orli Elbaz and her people before they leave the country.

"Keep me posted," he tells Gibbs.

Gibbs, taciturn as ever, nods silently.

And turning on his heel, Leon strides briskly out of the hospital hallway.

He will worry and mourn later. For now, he has work to do.


End file.
